A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Study Guide

As the story begins, we meet the narrator, a Vietnamese man named Dao. He tells us almost immediately that he is very old and before long, we learn that he now lives in New Orleans. Dao then tells us that Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese communist nationalist, had "come to him" the previous night, presumably in a dream. When Ho appears before Dao, his hands are covered in sugar and he tells Dao that he is having trouble remembering how to make a special glaze. (read more)